“Baseball opinions are like assholes… everybody’s got one and most of them stink.” — Harry Caray

WOW! First place White Sox

I really didn’t believe I’d ever get to type the above headline at any point this season, and even though its only April 15 this season definitely feels different than last year. In fact, if you’d like a replay of the 2011 White Sox just tune into a Miami Marlins game, no kidding. The second blown save of the year in as many opportunities happened last night for the Heath Bell and the Marlins. An error opened the door and Bell imploded, sounds like Matt Thornton in April 2011. Enough of about that, let’s talk about the White Sox pitching staff.

In the first two games versus the Tigers the starting pitchers have kept the Tigers’ bats quiet, and while the Sox haven’t torched the Tigers’ starters this series they’ve worked pitch counts enough to get into the Tigers already taxed bullpen. You have to pitch flawlessly and play mistake free baseball to beat the Tigers, which the White Sox have done.

Let me just say I that I’m not having any delusions of grandeur at this point in the season, but its nice to watch this team get off to a good start for once, not their notoriously slow start that plagued them the entire Ozzie Guillen-era except 2005. The Tigers are still the team to beat in the AL Central, but the Sox are gaining some respect. This used to be a fun rivalry, and it looks like that might be back.

Both games have featured solid starting pitching by both clubs and rookie Adam Wilk looked every bit as impressive as his minor league numbers. He would have stayed in the game if a Prince Fielder foul ball had not hit him in the shoulder while sitting in the dugout. That obviously played to the Sox favor, since Wilk had only allowed three hits.

The Sox seem to have figured out how to hit with runners in scoring position, as they’ve done so since getting to Cleveland earlier in the week. Now as the first full week comes to a close the White Sox are looking at a sweep of the Detroit Tigers, but they are facing Rick Porcello, who is coming off a solid first outing. The Sox send their best pitcher to the mound in the this young season, Chris Sale.

If the Sox should sweep the Tigers today and have a 1.5 game lead in this early season I’m not sure if I’ll be able to contain my happiness. It’s not what I expected at all, but everything seems to be going right for the Sox. The big question, will Miguel Cabrera get a hit today? I hope not, because that usually leads to scoring for the Tigers. Maybe, just maybe, Mig should have left the batter’s box alone.